Rugelach Cafe

As the New York Post puts it, “The cupcake craze is over. French macarons are fading. The humble rugelach is ready to rise in their place.”

Manhattan’s Upper East Side will soon be home to Petite Shell, a kosher cafe devoted to rugelach, that beloved, flaky underdog of Jewish pastries. The cafe, run by by Shmilly Gruenstein, will feature handmade rugelach in flavors like Piemonte Nutella, blue cheese pear, and Bariloche’s dulce de leche, according to Tablet magazine.

“I wanted to encourage the warm conversations that I remember so fondly from gatherings during my childhood,” Gruenstein said in a press release.

Petite Shell opens Jan. 14 at Lexington and 85th Street in New York City.

Rugelach, the crescent-rolled Ashkenazi pastry, has undergone trendy updates in recent years like all the other Jewish culinary staples. Whether the rugelach can hold its own in the cutthroat world of designer desserts, though, will be the great question of 2015.